


Titus Livius; The Seventh Circle.

by neocortex hunters (doubleinfinity)



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Bathtubs, M/M, Suicide, Suicide Attempt, dante's inferno, violent fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-03-02 09:55:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13315713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doubleinfinity/pseuds/neocortex%20hunters
Summary: Trigger warning: suicide, violence.Dante's Commedia, and the guide that it is when Hannibal finds Will in a bathtub with his wrists cut.(written in 2015 while I was studying Dante and utterly enamored with Hannibal.  um.  both are still true).





	Titus Livius; The Seventh Circle.

Hyper-animated ripples traversed the surface of the bath, popping in the shards of chewed-away fingernails. The few surviving fleets made their way towards the rim of the tub, collecting in a bay of blue. All at once, pallets of red and pink swarmed through the water in milky waves, bursting against the white acrylic and leaving pockets of ruby splashing against the wall.

An elbow came crashing down into the water, sending a torrent sloshing over the edge and onto the ground, leaving a trail of flushed liquid dispersed on the linoleum.

As Will rolled his head back and let the knife fall from his hand, the sound of it clattering to the floor was met by the auditory awareness of a shoe padding into the thinly spread water, splashing the red particles and clinking against the cold tiles. Through narrowed eyes, he followed the leather sole up to the man who was no less real than him, lips tightened in concern.

“We are beyond hemlock.”

Circumspectly, Will offered a look down at his wrists, the flesh slashed at and left with bleeding wounds that dripped vigorously into the water, marked by thick trails that streamed down the side of the tub. “That we are,” he spoke through lips struggling to part. “My sentence has not yet been stated. I was provided no cup.” Emphasis on each word- inappropriately, it seemed.

“Will.”

Hannibal knelt down, his knee falling into the puddle. He meticulously wrapped his fingers around Will’s palm, careful not to make contact with his injuries. He examined the depth and length, but did not stop the bleeding. “Why did you do this to yourself?” There was a tone of curiosity that weighed more than his uneasiness.

Swallowing, Hannibal could see every movement of his adam’s apple rolling against his skin; noticed his eyes closing and his breath, slowing his words. “I have no plans to join Alexander the Great and Dionysius in a lake of burning blood,” he responded, speaking as though it were what Hannibal wanted to hear. “I am merely overcoming that first ring of the seventh circle. A last minute... violence-against-self override. A mangled tree is a much more fulfilling fate in my eyes.”

With slow intent, Hannibal released Will’s arm and watched it fall underwater. He thought, mouth pursed. “The mechanics of God’s design are far more intricate than you can account for. You will end up where you are meant to. Allow me to call you an ambulance.”

Shaking his head, Will leant his jaw against his torn wrist. “No," he insisted. "I am ending up.”

“It will take longer than you expect to bleed yourself dry. The water will run cold.”

Will smiled. “I have quite a lot to wonder about.” He avoided Hannibal’s expression, studying the ceiling. “Have you ever noticed how beautiful the world appears when you recognize you are close to death? Everything is so… _vivid._ You look at yourself like a light that is going to be prematurely extinguished. That people will notice, realizing they never knew it was on in the first place.” He closed his eyes. “That you are a very complicated _beam,_ mechanical piece, holding things together, and that the moment you remove yourself, it will all collapse. That’s what I hope to achieve.”

Hannibal stood and circled around the edge of the tub, watching Will carefully. “And that _is_ the reality, Will,” he structured his words, letting his fingertips crawl along the side of the bath. “And you truly wish to be responsible for such a catastrophe?”

With eyes opened, Will nodded. “Yes,” he said, though question was smeared all through his face.

Quickly, Hannibal unbuttoned his overcoat and shrugged out of it, folding it and leaving it resting on the toilet seat. His black undershirt was plain, but the reason for it made Will squint and lean foward, looking for clues as to why.

The male stepped back towards Will and suddenly reached his arms out, wrapping them beneath Will’s armpits and dragging the soaking, naked body out of the tub with water pooling about him. Will gave a cry of protest as he was placed onto the cold tiles, finally feeling the shock of pain travel through his body. He mewled softly.

“Be quiet,” Hannibal instructed firmly, sitting down onto the floor and taking Will into his lap, the younger’s back pressed into his chest. He lifted the knife from the ground and held it rigidly, hand unshaken. “I’m not going to allow you to take your own life. You will not go to Hell for such an act of imprudence. Do you understand what I intend for you?"

Blinking, Will tried to angle his neck up to look at the other, but fingers curled around his mouth and kept his head in place.

"I will go to that seventh circle for you. I will stand in the rains of fire with no catharsis and know why I am there.”

Will softened in Hannibal’s grasp as the male brought the knife to his neck. He held it there for a moment, Will’s naked body pressed against his bare arms, fitted into his collar bone. Then he cocked his elbow and dragged the knife across the surface, pressing down so that the first spurt of blood was quickly followed by the last on the other end of his neck, his life fleeting immediately. He barely gasped aloud.

The knife clattered to the floor, and Hannibal made for Will’s wrists. He’d tie them and then send Will off to rest.

His fate had been intervened with and now he was going to work his way through that shade of purgatory, into the next afterlife.


End file.
